An epic and very interesting game it turned out to be! True, due to terrible connection issues, it got stretched out over a long 4 restarts…
We took the restarts. It ended up being quite even. We had slightly more angels from the conservatories, and they were positioned a bit more conveniently, but there was no external market and the castle only came on 113, which made setting up archers extremely difficult.
On 111, I had 2 conservatories and an external dwelling of elves near my castle, as well as a Spirit of Oppression. On the lava, there was also a conservatory right near the castle, but the road was blocked – 50+ marksmen behind a Pandora's Box. We broke through in the end excellently, gave the magogs. Also, necromancers arrived and started raising skeletons.
On 112, I revealed the central lookout point. There is a castle. Found another conservatory near me. The Dragon Fly Hive is quite far away. 59 magogs are a force, and Nimus gets Earth Magic! Slow is available. All that's left is to level up, and we can break any conservatories.
On 113, I take the castle and start building angels. Behind the horde of magogs, I pulled an excellent Fiona from a prison – level 10, Logistics, Attack, Pathfinding, Archery. I moved her to the Pandora's Box. There are two more conservatories on the lava!
114 – in the Pandora's Box are 25 griffins. Checked one of my conservatories – it's a minimum. I will take it. Found Shackles of War. Nimus replenishes mana, getting ready to hit the conservatory. This is where we restarted for the first time. Everything seems very rosy.
115 – I take an angel. I give troops to my ally – another +3.
On 116, I'm just reconfiguring my route chains. The brown players grab another two conservatories on the lava, there are 3+1. The army is coming to my respawn, another +2 angels, and we plundered a couple of Naga Banks.
On 117, I take the last conservatory, it's a minimum. Built and bought angels – 12 total. I exit from full speed into the center through a weak Guardian Object of unicorns. Reconnaissance towards the opponent showed the presence of a Tome of Air Magic. Had to take it. Next – Dragon Utopias. I see the green players speeding towards the Guardian Object. Here, I think, we played incorrectly. We should have, of course, pushed Turis with support; perhaps that would have given another day of unpunished looting of the center. I would have taken one Dragon Utopia regardless, but I didn't do anything else.
In short, we left the Guardian Object of crystal dragons to the opponent, I lack the movement points to pick up the Titan's Cuirass almost on the road, all I do is take the Dragon Utopia. They give from one side, not bad – Charm of Mana, Tome of Fire Magic, Ring of Speed. But nothing for primary stats, which is sad. And in the center, there were two more Dragon Utopias. And all not far from the road.
The green player on their turn, as expected, destroys the Guardian Object and attacks. There are 9 archers. Sad. They immediately engage the angel stack, minus 5. One archer dies from retaliation, I also take out the roc birds and a couple of Fanatics. And there are also 18 wyverns. The Titan's Cuirass is lost, one of the Dragon Utopias also fell, Turis became very dangerous – 22-16-6-11. We of course have control and magic, but we have no primary stats at all. There is literally no one to cast Dimension Door. And significantly fewer troops.
On 121, I ran along the other path to the center. There are Wings of the Netherworld for 40+ Scorpicores. I fought the battle poorly, lost the archer stack, lost an angel. On this most sorrowful note, we restarted for the second time. Except that a prison seen behind the horde of Master Genies gave some faint hope…
After the resumption during Vitaly's turn, a miracle happened. Firstly, in the fog behind the central castle, a conservatory was discovered which gave 3 angels. Nearby – Boots of Speed. We didn't have enough movement points to take them, though. Next, the prison is captured, and inside… Andra level 30, infinite mana, Earth Magic, Armorer, 13th spell without artifacts, Sorcery. It's clear that Turis is sitting in the central town, no mana, because a Tavern was being built, which means this is almost a victory (if there's no Sphere of Negation or Cloak of the Undead King). Besides, we had a whopping 250 skeletons in our stash, and we also took a Hive for 6 wyverns, as minor gains, so we have enough troops. Dimension Door, Turis is indeed in the castle and without mana, moreover, the wyvern stack was lost in a Dragon Utopia, and there are very few of them left, the archer remained there too, but the clever Artyom backed off, scared of something unclear. There was something to be afraid of, it turns out. The archers take out another 4 of our angels, and immediately comes a buyback. We have 6 left, but at least the day in the center will be ours. Eh, too bad we didn't capture the Shackles of War back…
The green player on their turn tries to return to the center, but doesn't reach the Dragon Utopia.
On 122, I conduct reconnaissance of the enemy territory, placing my heroes haphazardly. Well, I didn't plan anything, but it turned out great. Upgrade the angels. Here we restarted again. The situation is promising, but it's too early to think about victory.
The blue player's 122 passed without events, and Vitaly made a second mega-turn. We take the Dragon Utopia right from under the nose of the green player's Ayden. They give multiple sets – Sword +5 all stats, Sandals +2 all stats, Sentinel's Shield. Andra is defeated. The previously dismissed Tant enters and immediately raises a hundred skeletons. A Hive for 8 wyverns. Sword of the Titan, transferring troops home, a Hive for 6. Upgrade 6 angels.
The green player gives troops to Caitlin and comes to finish us off.
On 123, I pull off a mega-turn. First, I captured the Shackles of War. Then it turned out that I had accidentally built an excellent route chain to Fiona, standing in the middle of the treasure zone next to the last unclaimed Dragon Utopia. Along the way, I get 20k gold from a Pandora's Box. I enter the Dragon Utopia – a triple with another set, namely the Helm +6 all stats and the Sphere of Negation. On the last movement point, I reach the central Conflux. I kill Turis. Next, I dismiss my best heroes in the hope of digging them up in the tavern. No one came, however. The best I managed to get for about 30k was Mullich level 1. Fine, he'll do. With artifacts, he became 13-28 and good morale. In the army – 6 archers, 20 wyverns, 250 skeletons, and +5 (!) speed, morale and luck +2 each. Caitlin is only 12-8, 8+1 archers, 5 wyverns, 1 Firebird, and 3 small stacks of Fanatics. With such an advantage in stats, obviously, there's no chance. The Sphere of Negation prevents casting, and the Shackles of War prevent fleeing. And so, this is a victory!
Thank you all for the game!
Осень-Зима 2013-14.